"…..because not everything in life is brown or white……."

If your face doesn’t fit…..

Hello campers. I’m rather pissed off.

I expect this will pass when I ponder things over the weekend and formulate a more positive mental response to this uncharacteristic lull, however at the moment I am both insulted, angry and slightly disenchanted with my current employer. This is known in Anglo-Indian speak as a bloody fucking bollocky understatement.

For the second time in a year I have applied for an internal post in my office (different roles though) and not been offered an interview. Indeed, the small-minded infidels have spoken.

The job in question is both marketing and project management based, OUTRAGEOUSLY (just who the hell do I think I am!?!? EH EH EH!?!) I felt it reasonable to apply given my marketing background (BA Hons degree with membership to the Chartered Institute of Marketing) and ‘can do’ attitude. I reasoned that it was time to apply for something which is a little more ‘me’ and mused that I had sufficient grounds to apply having worked in areas of project management and marketing over the years before my venture into insurance over the last 6 years or so.

Brothers and sisters, I’m not unreasonable, I’m not the sort of gimp who as a croissant baker applies for a job in neurosurgery with no previous experience only to get turned down and develop a ‘the world is out to get me and I hate it!’ complex. I just want to get on.

I took my first job here as an administrator when I found out my Dad was sick, my decision at the time was due to needing a local job, something I could do on autopilot while I tried to deal with the emotional backlash at that time and ultimately it appears I’ve been tarred with that brush. Is that how I’m really seen at a career level? Kev, the warranty claims engineer? Capable of that and that alone?

It’s no secret that I was quite spoilt as a youngster (and quite an arrogant little shit to boot) and I honestly feel that I’ve come a long way from that mindset and now fully appreciate that there is always someone around the corner who can do something better than myself. I really reckon that I could have presented a good case in the interview and I feel extremely offended by this latest slap in the face because it totally and utterly smacks of ‘Well, we’ll look at your current role, judge you by that, not what you can do, and that’s where you are staying Jim m’lad!’.

So, why throw the toys out of the pram Kev? Surely there are better applicants this time and you just haven’t made the cut? Maybe you don’t have what it takes anymore? Be reasonable? Be a realist? Fuck that shit. Suck my fucking balls. How the FUCK can you just judge someone on a piece of paper? Why should I subscribe to this shit?

I honestly don’t know what I expected to be fair. I don’t have the best opinion of the old boy network which sits at the head of your average organisation, nor do I hold much hope for a company whos marketing department is full of beautiful people that are CONFIRMED as being less qualified than a school leaver; It’s always been my opinion that an average office is infested with ‘Nice-but-dim’ individuals, the most amazing brown noses you’ve ever seen, someone who risks discovery as ‘Incompetant bastard of the year 2008’ each working day yet seems to get away with it. You must all know at least one person like this if you work in an office surely?

I don’t want to be part of the incestuous merry-go-round where all the execs sleep with each other, pose in All-bar-one with ‘wine of the week’ or any of that office bilge, I just want to do an honest days work and be challenged during it. is that too much to ask for?

Please believe me ladies and gentleman, I am the first to openly applaude a capable and inspiring member of staff, but there are some outrageously lucky chancers in this world; And they’re doing a great job of gettign in my way.

Sadly, this reality screams a stark warning for us all, and it’s that in most cases (I appreciate not ALL here, a good mate of mine is hopefully going to progress IF common sense prevails) that you can get by not ONLY if your face fits, but even more importantly, if your tongue does too.